Ask the Readers: What lifestyle changes have you made to improve your finances?

Newish GRS reader Jennifer is beginning her financial journey, and she shared her strategy so far.

So here I am, mid-30s, buried in an obscene amount of credit card debt, and very little to show for it other than my piles and piles of STUFF. Man, I love me some stuff.

I’ve lived in denial for years… “Yes, I have a lot of credit card debt, but so long as I can pay my bills each month, I’m doing OK. I’ll just worry about paying off the debt later… when I’m making more money.”

Well, later is here, and I’ve finally faced the fact that my debt shackles are the only things keeping me from living the life I want… one where I can afford to take time off work to travel (without going further into debt), or perhaps taking a lower-paying job in a field that I’m truly passionate about, or opening that little cheese shop of my dreams. It’s time to get SERIOUS.

So I’ve done the usual things — consolidated my debt between one interest-free credit card and one low-interest loan, both with aggressive payoff schedules, and automatic payments coming out of my account each month — yadda yadda yadda. I hope to be out of debt in two years.

Now comes the hard part (the fun part?): the lifestyle changes. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of stuff. (I’m not talking “hoarder” levels of stuff, just more stuff than any one person reasonably needs to live a satisfying life). Here’s the thing about having a lot of stuff: you have to find places to put it. And as your collection of stuff grows, that gets harder and harder. And then stuff gets buried in closets and drawers – wherever you can find space. And then it’s out of sight, out of mind. So you forget you have it (or can’t find it), so you buy more stuff! It’s a vicious cycle.

Step 1 – Time to downsize.

I set a goal of reducing my stuff by a third. Now, I didn’t put all my stuff on a scale, so I can’t say for sure that I’ve actually accomplished this, but I did fill my living room with massive piles of stuff that all went the way of Goodwill, consignment, Craigslist, Freecycle, recycling, and trash. The clutter is gone, things are organized, and I can finally see what I’ve really got. (How did I end up with five nail clippers?)

Step 2 – Use the stuff I’ve got!

This is a fantastically easy way to cut back on spending. The downsizing effort led to a lot of “I totally forgot I had this! I can definitely make use of one of these!” type discoveries. I found a 2-quart pitcher buried in a box that probably hasn’t been unpacked in at least three moves. So now, instead of buying juice at $3.29 a pop, I buy a zero-calorie powdered lemonade mix for $2.39 and mix it up at home – 10-plus quarts for less than the price of one. I love collecting cloth napkins of all different prints and colors when I find them on sale… but then I never use them! That’s about to change. The last package of paper napkins I purchased is about to run out, and when it does, I’m switching to cloth napkins. (Added bonus – less waste!)

Step 3 – Consume the consumables.

This could really be a subset of Step 2, but in my case, it deserves to be called out in its own step. Seems like a no-brainer, but I’ve realized that I need to make a conscious effort in this area.

Food.

I love buying food. In fact, grocery visits make up the bulk of my compulsive spending. I buy neat ingredients that I think might be fun to use, and then they languish on the shelf… or worse, they go bad before I get around to eating them and they get tossed. I’ve pulled everything out of the dark corners of my pantry and cabinets and set it all on the counter – and it’s going to stay there until it gets consumed. No buying anything outside of the meat-cheese-veggie basics until I get through what I’ve already got.

Beauty products.

I’ve probably got six bottles of half-used lotions, and I’m not buying another bottle until they are all gone. I’ve got at least a dozen different hair products that I’ve used once or twice, and more make-up than I’ll ever get around to using… and here’s the kicker – I almost never wear makeup or put product in my hair! Which brings me to Step 4…

Step 4 – Be mindful of what I actually use.

Yes, my hair is often flat and listless, so when I come across some magical new product that’s going to fill my hair with body and bounce, I just have to have it. But then I try it out a few times, give up, and it sits on the shelf collecting dust. I don’t need to spend any more money on hair products. Sure that new lotion smells pretty, or promises to leave my skin looking young and fresh, but I know that I have one lotion that I love, and it’s really all I need. So now, when I’m in the store, considering buying some shiny new object of desire, I ask myself, “Do I need this? No. Will I wear/use/eat this? Probably not. Can I live without it? Most definitely.”

This effort is definitely a work in progress. I’m only about a month in on seriously adopting these lifestyle changes, but so far it’s been a pretty fun challenge! I’m definitely not missing anything, and it’s exciting when I come up with a new small change I can easily make that will save me money in the long run. I look forward to adding more steps.

So, Readers, what are your steps for simple lifestyle changes that save you money?

We when we paid off $55,500 in unsecured debt in 2007 we actually didn’t end up changing our lifestyle all that much. Yes we spent less, yes we moved from a free access to cash system to an allowance system, yes we thought about our purchases more, yes we did eat from our pantry more.

But, we still went on vacation, saved for in advance, we still socialized and ate out, but we limited our spending, we still celebrated holidays and gave gifts but we changed how we addressed Christmas and gift giving in our family.

Mostly we changed how we managed our money (cutting up the credit cards, setting up a spending plan, setting up an allowance system) and the day to day habits followed.

I’ve been using a Christmas Club account that I contribute to through payroll withdrawals for the past 30+ years. I preset my holiday spending at the beginning of the saving year, early in November. When the check comes I cash it and pay for everything with cash. When the cash is gone I’m done shopping. Works like a dream!

I know for us we simply stated that money was tight and we requested not to exchange w/adults, and to just give to the children. To our surprise, all of the adults were on board! We also mentioned it about two months before Christmas … our family members aren’t early shoppers.

We still did purchase something smallish for grandparents, like a nice pair of gloves, a nice bottle of wine, or a restaurant gift card for two ($50).

In our family, the responsible spenders were all on board, but *surprise!* the spendthrifts didn’t like it – because they want those expensive gifts! So now all of the responsible kids don’t get gifts but the irresponsible ones are still getting nice stuff from the grandparents. Whatever – once the parents/grandparents are gone, they will have to learn to fend for themselves.

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AEWsays:

15 June 2013 at 6:41 pm

To keep holiday spending in check, we transfer $100 to a separate savings account monthly starting in January so that by the time we start shopping for the holidays we have between $1000-$1200 saved to cover which is more than enough. I also STOPPED shopping early, especially with kids. I found that if I shopped early I tended to buy more because they are always changing their minds on what they want. Now I go and get everything in one afternoon and I’m done. Also, we talked with our siblings and no longer exchange with them unless it’s a small homemade memento. (I’ve made ornaments with their wedding invites in them, they’ve given us a calendar with family photos, etc.) It has cut WAY down on the spending and honestly made the holidays much more enjoyable. Instead of stressing about money and shopping for a gift we are spending time with family and friends and making memories, which is much more valuable in the long run!

I think it’s great that you were able to get a handle on your debt while still allowing yourself to enjoy life once in a while. It’s tough to find a balance between scrimping to put any free money towards your debt and being able to go out and enjoy a meal with a friend once in a while. I’m working on making thoughtful decisions about every dollar I spend in order to achieve that balance. (Oh, and I removed the credit cards from my wallet as well… don’t have the cash for it? Can’t have it/don’t need it).

We have been working on lowering our food budget for quite some time, and are finally starting to make some decent progress. We stopped eating out so much, and enjoy our nights much more. No more having to wait around for our food to be ordered, and we don’t have to be bothered by other people. Now we can just enjoy dinner in our home and have peace!

I used to think I was the only one whose food spending was out of control, but I’ve started to learn that a lot of people seem to spend unwisely here – not just at restaurants, but in the grocery as well. I definitely limit my dinners out to about once or twice a month these days, but another way I’m working on reducing the food budget is by making myself eat leftovers. I used to be terrible at this… Food just never seems to taste as good reheated, so I let it sit there in the fridge until it’s time for it to be tossed. These days I try to make things that will reheat well, or if it’s a doggie bag from a restaurant, I try to get creative with the reheating… maybe toss in a few extra ingredients and heat it up on the stovetop (I loathe the microwave). I also work on eliminating leftovers from the start by only cooking as much as I’m going to eat that evening… it was a challenge at first, but it’s gotten much easier. I still cut up the whole onion, chicken, whatever, but then I only use a small portion and put the rest in tupperware to be used on another night. It’s a real timesaver later in the week.

History:
I made a disastrous career move in 1982 to start my own business in a smalltown. When oil prices crashed in the 1980′s,I lost all my real estate investment in Houston and my customers quit buying computers. There was no demand for computer programmers in a small town and my choice was to move back to a Houston size town and die fighting traffic so I could find a programming job or raise my boys in a small town and never make much money.

I chose a third option. I went back to school to get my PhD. This meant great sacrifice for four plus years but held the promise of a good salary in a small college town.

Today, 30 years later, I can look back and realize that the sacrifice was worth it.

Sometimes to change your future, you need to assess multiple options and choose to step backward in order to move forward.

In 1982, my net worth was $75000 and I lost it all. In 1995, my net worth was $0,000 and today, 18 years later, my net worth is over one million(no pension). You can change your future but do not expect change to come at no cost.

Pizza. Sounds silly, maybe, but hubby and I always have a Friday night pizza. That used to be a $10-$20 expense, but now we pick up Trader Joe’s ready made pizza dough for $1.29 each week and make our own Friday pizza. Gives us some fun time in the kitchen deciding what the flavor of the week is and it’s way more cost effective. Oh, and I try to bike to work 1-2 days per week. My husband bikes to the post office (for his business) every day, weather permitting. The two-wheel usage saves us $30-$40 per month in gas, which adds up.

We make our own pizza dough using a bread machine. With timers, you can walk in the door with the dough ready and the oven hot. The big costs of the dough are probably the yeast and a tablespoon of olive oil.

For us, bread is one of those regular expenses that add up. The bread machine lets us make our own. We use the timer to have fresh bread for breakfast and sandwiches on occasion, but we mostly use the machine to make dough that we bake in the oven. The results are at least similar to a good bakery and certainly better than the “artisan” bread you can buy in a grocery store.

I made fun of bread machines, but it has become a huge money saver for us. You don’t need a bread machine to make your own bread, but the convenience makes it much more likely you will.

I agree! A bread machine is one of the best purchases we’ve ever made! We always make a fresh loaf to be included in dinner when we have guests over, and people love it! I can make a simple soup or stew, and with the bread, it becomes an exclusive dinner. We usually send the rest of the loaf home with our visitors. One couple we have over fairly often always reminds us to make a loaf of bread for dinner!

I know that the bread purists out there may disdain the use of a bread machine, but for a few cents a loaf, we can upgrade to better bread that can be had at the grocery store, and far more cheaply.

We’ve recently started learning to make pizza dough, and our next adventure is to have pizza when visitors come over.

These pizza posts are making me laugh because I was just having this very conversation last week! There is a tasty pizza place literally right outside my back door (and a deliciously tempting Indian restaurant) and it’s a little too convenient when I’m feeling lazy. I cut cable out of my budget about a year ago, and I’ve taken to watching a lot of PBS (which I get with my antenna). The Create channel on PBS is like Food Network, HGTV, and the Travel Channel all in one (fantastic!) and I was watching one of the foodie shows and saw someone making pizza dough with the hook attachment on their stand mixer. Why/how had this never occurred to me?? How cheap is flour, yeast and water? I’ll be making pizza at home as soon as I consume the stuff that’s already in my fridge so I can go out and buy some toppings…

Love the feedback!

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Allysonsays:

14 June 2013 at 8:55 am

If you have an old-fashioned charcoal grill (non-gas) try grilling the pizza directly on the grill. You won’t regret it!

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Dawnsays:

14 June 2013 at 5:11 pm

I cook pizza on my gas grill all the time.

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Christinasays:

14 June 2013 at 8:43 pm

Pizza has become our easy, fast, and cheap dinner. I use a KitchenAid mixer to make enough dough for 6 thin crust pizzas, divide it, and freeze it (in bags coated with olive oil – sticky!). I make a huge vat of sauce, divide it up, and freeze it. For toppings, I can put whatever leftover vegetables and meat we have on it. The dough defrosts quickly and is actually easier to roll out after being frozen. The kids’ favorite is pesto pizza (make sauce from kitchen garden in huge quantities and freeze).

I did a lot of the same things when I climbed my way out of debt years ago and it really was helpful. I was not a hoarder either, but I would just buy the most random stuff that I largely did not need. I saw that a choice was needed and with some help made it. In terms of food, we have really been able to streamline what we spend at the store. We buy items that can be used for various meals so we can interchange them and have cut down a lot on food waste.

I’m the same way at the grocery store — and with my wardrobe, actually! Whether it’s food, clothing, decor, etc, I mainly buy things that go with a lot of other things and the occasional item to liven things up.

When I got my first job out of college, I moved to a new city and got my own apartment. After a few months, I decided to rent a room after my lease was up since I didn’t need all the space and having my own place was pricier than I had anticipated. I’ve saved over $200 per month with very little lifestyle change. I’ve had to move a few times, but if you get a good roommate, it’s all worth it.

Transportation costs now exceed food costs for most people and a lot of those costs are hidden. The cost of operating a motor vehicle is now over $.50 per mile. The immediate out of pocket costs for gas are obviously only a small part of that.

We now live in a small town with no real transit, but we chose our house based on being able to walk to work. By contrast, my cousin lives 15 miles out of town. At $15 per trip, that adds up.

If you can’t get close enough to walk, get a bike. I used a bike for a couple years when I was starting out and the savings in both money and frustration compared to the beater cars I could afford was enormous.

Choosing walking or biking as transportation can also replace that health club membership. It always amazes me that people drive to the health club to ride an exercycle or walk on treadmill.

By choosing a home close to transit, you can eliminate even more trips. We bought a new truck eight years ago. It still has less than 100,000 miles on it despite living in a rural small town. The first year, when we lived in a city with transit, it had less than 5000 miles. Between biking, walking and transit our only vehicle has sat in front of the house or in the garage most days.

In terms of stuff, turn off your television. You may think you are immune to being manipulated by advertisers, but you aren’t. In fact, you are targeted by marketers who study how to market stuff to people who firmly believe they are immune. You would be amazed at how little stuff you need if you don’t listen to sales pitches for hours every day. That applies to online videos as well, turn the sound off until what you actually want to watch comes on. And stay away from Amazon.

Buy local. It may not seem like it, but every time you walk into Walmart or Target you are going to be tempted to walk out with stuff you didn’t really know you wanted. Of course local stores and the farmers market also provide temptations. But the big national retailers are systematically trying to entice you into purchasing stuff you didn’t know you wanted until you walked in the store.

Learn to cook. It doesn’t really take any longer to put together a meal from scratch, than it does to pop something in the microwave. Its a lot cheaper and usually much better tasting. Don’t start fancy, you will blow your budget on little used ingredients for one recipe. Start with things you buy all the time. If your go-to meal is a hamburger from a fast food spot, you can make your own easily. Same with eggs and toast or that “breakfast sandwich”. Save eating out and prepared foods for the stuff you can’t make yourself. Just make sure you don’t let good intentions eat you. A refrigerator full of rotting food is not going to save you money.

We are often advised to save money every paycheck and eventually it will add up. The same is true for expenses, its the expenses you have every day that eat you up.

Definitely valid point on the transporation costs. I used to live up in the mountains (and I LOVED it) but I had a long commute to work, and I had to drive anytime I wanted to go anywhere. So, I gave up the peace and quiet and moved down into the city last year; specifically to a neighborhood where I could walk to just about any place I needed to go. My walking radius is about 1-2 miles, depending on where I’m going (and what I’ll be carrying back); but I also recently bought a used bike off Craigslist and I’ve expanded my non-driving radius to 8-10 miles. It’s only been about a month with the bike, and I’ve already noticed a difference with my gas tank.

“Save eating out and prepared foods for the stuff you can’t make yourself.”

This is exactly what I do. I often pick a recipe based on what I like to order when I go to eat. Once I know how to make those things myself, I only go out for special occasions or try something I wouldn’t be able to make myself.

I’ve also learned to make bigger batches of meals so I can eat it for lunch or dinner the next day.

Thanks Jennifer for sharing your story. It’s so inspiring for me to hear others tackling their debt head on, and I’m rooting for you all the way.

When my wife and I decided to pay off our $80 grand in student loans and credit cards, we made a lot of major and minor adjustments in our daily lives. I took as much overtime as I could at work and my wife started tutoring ESL students in addition to our full time jobs. We cut meat out of our regular diet and became flexatarians. We also have held off on owning a vehicle (and to this day I have lived 10 consecutive years without owning a car).

We became actively aware of free things to do in our city and made them part of our weekend adventures. We still took vacations, but scaled them down to staycations here in Chicago and small trips to Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. I also bought,and continue to, buy my clothes at Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Now we are a year removed from becoming debt free and it feels incredible. We still plan out every dollar we earn before the start of every month and stick to our budget, as well as going grocery shopping with our full list in hand.

And in the past when we’ve said “no” to sizable trips and donations, now we’ve started saying yes! We tithe to our local church, have taken trips to Hawaii, Charleston, LA and have a few more lined up to Nashville and 2 weeks in Europe.

Keep it up, getting out of debt and staying out of debt is worth every penny!

Thanks for the kind words, Rob! Your stories are actually quite inspiring. I definitely think it’s important to donate when you’re able… yes, I’m struggling with my bills, but I’m still a lot better off than many people in this world, and I am grateful for that. I think it’s important to get out and see the world as well… this year (and probably next) my travel is limited to domestic destinations, and will involve camping and national parks

I disregard all “it’s cheaper if you buy more” arguments in the name of using what I buy and eliminating waste. I find this works really well with food. I ditched my Costco membershipe when I moved because I discovered when packing that I had all kinds of half-used packages of things I’d bought there.

Making a budget and actively keep it updated has been a huge help. I go through every receipt and make sure each purchase is properly categorized (gifts, groceries, home supplies, etc.). This helps me see where we are over-spending and where we can cut back.

I would say, if you have a hobby, use your craft supplies before buying any more. They can be very tempting. When my son was in Iraq, I took out my anxiety in chocolate and knitting; when he came home, I realized that I had enough yarn for a small store. Five years later, people are STILL getting afghans as gifts …

So glad your son came home safe, PB. I was in the military as well. Your anxiety was certainly understandable.

I used to be quite crafty when I was younger, but I don’t do as much these days. During my downsizing, I kept some things, but got rid of other stuff on Freecycle (I just knew someone would want that bag of assorted ribbons!). I kept stuff that I can use for decorating around the house, or dressing up gifts, etc.

We eat out less, buy only what we need at the store, and shop at Goodwill, Salvation Army and Ebay before we hit a retail store. I try to determine needs vs. wants every time I go to the store. We buy hobby items however, we try to sell our products as much as possible although I love to keep some of the creations.

We love movies so we either watch on Netflix(don’t have movie channels)rent from our local video store or go to the movies because son works at theater so 2 out of 4 of us get in for free with 2 free drinks and popcorns which we share.

We split up our house and car payments to pay out bi weekly rather than monthly to lower the interest rate. Our car will be paid off mid september(7 months earlier than expected) and our home will be paid off in approx 10 years(will be 7 years earlier than 30yr term)Once our kids are out of college, we plan to contribute more to our house payment.

Get into yard sales. Have one yourself to get rid of all of those kids toys and stuff you don’t need.

Then, go to some and pick-up stuff that you actually can use at 90%-95% off. If you get into the cycle long enough, you find just about anything and even make it into a side business if you have the interest!

We made a huge lifestyle choice in 2009 that improved our finances: We moved to Canada. Since we’re self-employed and had been buying private health insurance in the U.S., our health insurance and health care costs dropped by several thousands of dollars annually after the move. And no, our taxes are not noticeably different than in the U.S.

I travel quite a lot for work, and I am able to use all those samples I get and my “leftovers” of regular toiletries for travel. I put the end of a bottle of shampoo or anything else into generic bottles. Same for makeup. It’s a great use for those department store makeup kits.

This is actually part of my “consume the consumables” effort. I have endless hotel shampoos and such… I rounded them all up and I’m using them now, even if I’m not traveling. No need to buy soap anytime soon!

Fortunately, I haven’t had to change too many things, but I have given up a few items I didn’t want to if it hadn’t been for my finances. My wife and I have pretty much cut out going to eat at restaurants. We only go a couple of times a month and it’s normally pretty cheap. Another thing we gave up is our satellite TV. Granted, that wasn’t only a financial decision, but money did play a role in it.

couple things I’ve learned –
- buy for the life I actually have, not the life I want. (in your case – no buying fancy gourmet ingredients you won’t use! in my case – enough buying yarn for a sweater I’ll probably never make, despite really wanting to be a person who knits her own sweaters)
- practice understanding the difference between Need and Want. I don’t *need* a pair of work shoes to go with each outfit. A few pairs total is fine
- repair, don’t replace. it’s amazing how many things can be fixed instead of needing to buy new item! (e.g. shoes! luggage. other things)
- Pay yourself first. My money comes into my checking account and immediately gets whisked away to hard to reach savings / investment accounts. I allow a certain amount per period to be spent on “life” as I call it. If I run out of money, I just stop buying things until the next period.
- there is a lot of good stuff you can get used from yard sales. my rice cooker, ice cream maker, pizza stone, and breadmaker all came from yard sales. I want a juicer now and I’m thinking I can probably find one used. (true story – I just typed “need a juicer” – I’m still learning the difference myself!)

Good luck on your journey! You can do it! My net worth was negative 75k (mostly student loans from grad school, so they were low interest) 8 years ago and now I’m several hundred thousand in the black, even with a house underwater!

You are definitely right on with your first point… isn’t it funny how we buy things for a life we don’t have? For the person we think we want to be? Talk about wasteful spending… That reminds me, I’ve got a climbing harness I need to post on Craigslist.

Thanks for the feedback! (I hope to join you
“in the black” soon enough)

I never got into the habit of going out to lunch beacuse it’s so bad on the waistline. Turns out I’ve save thousands of dollars over my 35+ year career while trying to keep my weight down! Two birds, one stone!!!

I am not trying to get out of debt but have still made some lifestyle changes for a different reason. Last year my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to start saving aggressively. We dream of buying a house and need a deposit.

We decided to start cooking home more. This was by far the biggest cut we made and has saved us a lot of money. In addition we froze our gym memberships and started to walk to a train station that is in another zone, so in addition to health benefits our commuting cost has gone down as well.

As an additional step to beauty products, what I did when I started to run out of them, was carefully evaluate where quality matters and where it doesn’t. I looked at each product individually and decided whether I could get on with a cheaper option. For example, I spent 3 years searching for a moisturiser that doesn’t upset my skin, so I’m not willing to try anything else, but have switched hand soap, body scrub and conditioner and haven’t really noticed any change for the worse.

We also planted a garden full of vegetables and fruits from seeds and saplings we asked from friends and colleagues that are into gardening.

Otherwise we are practising conscious spending. We never really buy clothes or items for home at full price and always check cashback sites for extra perks. For example, for the last six months I’ve been on the lookout for a discount code for an item I really want (funny how for items that you don’t need, you can just wait forever!). I have agreed to buy it only when the discount is 20% or more – and this week got a -25% + free p&p code for it!

We believe it is important to enjoy life now, even if we save aggressively for the future. Just with the above adjustments, however, we’ve been able increase our monthly savings without really noticing.

Excellent stuff here; thanks for sharing! Small changes really do make a difference, and it makes the transition a little easier. I’m actually planting some herbs and veggies this weekend… never again will I buy a $3 plastic container of herbs that I’ll only get to use half of before they go bad!

3. Borrow/Share/Exchange whenever possible. I have one tiny rug and an ottoman that needs a deep clean from time to time. I don’t want to buy an expensive vacuum cleaner but my friend who doesn’t drive lets me borrow hers. In exchange, I will drive her someplace or let her borrow whatever she needs from me.

4. If I am feeling stir crazy, I ask my friends if they want to meet for lunch instead of dinner. It is cheaper and just as fun.

5. Ride my bike or walk whenever possible. I live in Chicago and if the weather is nice enough, then I ride or walk around town. This also eliminates any impulse shopping because I don’t want to lug it around with me.

I think the big thing that saves us money is loving where you live. When that’s covered, then a walk around the neighborhood, or to a park can be just as enjoyable (if not more) than dinner at a fancy restaurant, paying $10+ to see a movie, etc. Plus, once you get more in touch with what’s going on where you live, you can usually find lots of free or low cost events, and your travel times (and expense) for entertainment can be cut dramatically.

This is huge. Our little neighborhood has a used & new bookstore, a wine shop with Friday tastings, a tea and spice shop with occasional tastings, a weekly farmers market, a movie theater costing half what the big places charge these days, and much much more. Everything we could need or want is in walking distance, most free or cheaper than it would be elsewhere.

If you go the garage sale route, visiting the garage sales by bike certainly cuts down the impulse purchases. It either has to be something you can carry on your bike or you need to go home and get the car. Either way, you tend to only get things you really need, rather than just want.

A whole lot of lifestyle changes hit in the last two years, in a “whether you like it or not” way, and finances followed suit.

I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so on one hand I am automatically saving $$ because I’m too tired to have a social life, or have fun shopping trips on a whim, or go on vacations. I have to put all of the energy I have into keeping my job for the health insurance.

On the other hand, even with health insurance, having an “invisible illness” is expensive between doctor bills and my doctor-approved treatments and therapies. Not everything is covered, and even copays add up after a while.

On top of that, one of the doctor-recommendations that worked was to use an elimination diet to look for food sensitivities, and now I know that wheat and dairy products exacerbate my condition. Not eating these Standard American Diet staples can make one’s grocery bills skyrocket, even if you cook from scratch instead of buying the fancy gluten-free trendy products. I’m even less likely to eat in normal restaurants anymore, but my grocery bills eat up the extra $$ too.

Then again, I live near to a CostCo, so the technique of ‘cook a really big batch of safe food and eat leftovers all week’ is helping me save energy and $$ in the long run.

Also, downsizing to a smaller apartment means both less cleaning, so I spend less energy, and less expensive, so I can spend more of that $$ on doctor bills (yaaaay :-/).

So, its a balancing act. But with less energy to go out and do things, at least I have more time to keep an eye on my finances. And retirement savings have become even more important, b/c if this is how I feel at 30, will I even still be *able* to work by the time I’m 40? Retirement might have to be early, and not by choice. It sux.

Maybe now’s the time to start thinking of some alternative careers that don’t require a lot of energy? If you’re worried you won’t be able to work in 10 years, then that gives you 10 years to come up with a plan, so even if you can only do it a little at a time, you’re sure to make plenty of progress.

Maybe something like blogging professionally or writing self-published ebooks or another business that requires little physical exertion?

I sympathize — I have food issues too, and it’s not easy on the budget! I rely on cheap staples like lentils, rice and oats to balance out the pricier wheat and dairy alternatives. I eat a LOT of vegetables, and that gets expense too.

One of my survival strategies: I stock up on frozen vegetables when they go on sale, freeze portions of lentils and portions of rice and I’ve got a quick meal on nights I’m too tired to cook. The mix is good with any salad dressing or sauce, but I like a little non-dairy cheese parmesan cheese on mine.

Actually, you can freeze small portions of many cooked grains. I like millet and quinoa too, and they’re great in muffins.

2) We refinanced our second mortgage with our primary mortgage for 1 less year and less of a monthly payment, plus a cash out to do much need work on the house.

3) My husband finally told his work he needed a smart phone so they are paying for it. Our daughter went on her own phone plan and we got rid of our home phone which was a cell phone as well. I was able to upgrade to a smart phone for $30. less per month.

4) I’m also waiting to hear from my town about grieving my taxes. Hopefully they will follow through this year (I’ve done it in the past only to be turned down because of insufficent information).

5) And tomorrow is a neighborhood garage sale that I will be participating in. Whatever doesn’t sell is being donated to Goodwill. I cannot take the clutter anymore. And it’s taken me 32 years to get to this point.

Because of the volume of ‘stuff’ in people’s lives often someone you know has something that you are looking for just gathering dust in theirs.

My tv, rice cooker, crock pot, food processor, and computer printer have all come free or for a trade. All by just saying, ‘do you know anyone who might have a …..’. Works really well for people with parents moving into a nursing home or people who work in transitional jobs [ie. medical professionals training for a couple years and then moving].

The biggest thing we used to waste money on was food. Whenever we went to the store we would end up getting impulse buys. So the way we combat that is the make sure that we list everything we want. So if it’s not on the list we don’t buy. Now our store lets us order online so that removes temptation even more, as long as you don’t get caught up in any special offers they may have.

I worked as a housekeeper in a local hotel for a while and that’s what we did. When towels were no longer pristine, we cut them up for rags. They were great for cleaning and drying surfaces, and held up well to daily use and washing!

I still keep old towels and old clothing (especially mate-less socks) for all kinds of chores.

Great post I’ve been thinking about doing a massive clean up for a couple of weeks now but find it hard to get motivated. I’m sure once the clutter goes my motivation will return so that’s the plan for this week: donate unwanted clothes and goods, use up all the half used hand creams, body lotions and shampoos, get the shredder out and sort through all the paperwork.

As for current savings, I take my lunch to work most days of the week and only buy coffee at weekends – this makes eating out so much more enjoyable than having it every day.

For the past year I’ve started paying myself first, so 20-30% of my fortnightly income goes into savings straight away. Another 30% goes towards paying debt and the rest is for living expenses and fun.

I’ve tried being frugal but it just makes me want to spend more so I’ve stopped depriving myself and realised I’m much happier spending money on experiences and investments rather than material goods. So instead of buying more shoes and clothes I’ve started spending more on shares, weekends away and holidays.

We have just gotten really serious about cutting the budget so we can pay off our student loans as quickly as possible, and two major ways that we are saving are #1, a CASH budget at the grocery ($150 a week for a family of 5) and #2, we take $100 CASH each month and put it into our family fun(d). I sit down each week and make a menu plan and go to the grocery once a week only, no more. I literally go through the grocery with a calculator in hand and add everything up as I go. Not only does this help me to get everything we need all at once, we have a lot less waste because it forces us to use up things that we have in the house already. I’m also cooking a lot more from scratch which is healthier anyway! With the family fun(d) we have explained to the kids that once the family fund is empty we can’t do anything else for the month. If we have a trip or something bigger coming up we tell them we need to cut back in the time leading up to it to have extra. Any eating out, ice cream, bowling, etc has to fit into the fun(d) budget. We’ve found a ton of free and low cost activities that we can do so they don’t feel deprived and we have a great time! The key to these is CASH. It’s a lot harder to part with cash than it is to swipe a credit card. Plus this way helps our kids learn more about money and budgeting. The earlier they start the better!

This was a beautiful guest post. Thank you for writing it. I’m in a similar spot now. I just turned 29 and I really want to spend this year preparing myself to enter 30 in as calm and inspirational environment as possible.

I don’t even want to think about all of the things (yes, especially food) that I’ve wasted or forgotten about…or gave up on out of laziness.

I can totally relate to the desire to follow your dreams even if they don’t pay. Every time someone chides me for being too “cheap” or I get the “you have to live in the present” (which for some reason “has” to involve spending money), I let them know that I’m not happy with the present, and the only way to change the present is to plan for the future. I am working towards being able to take 2 years off of work to pursue and focus on a career that will earn me only 2/3 of my income now, but it’s a job that I can see myself doing happily until I am physically incapable…vs the job I have now in which I think I can only eek out 2 more years before I become mentally incapable because I’ve gone crazy.

But, I want it all. I want a low-paying job that i love, but I also want to be paid. Enter my second dream to have a semi-passive income earning side-gig with rental property (which also happens to be a passion of mine…outside of the money-making potential, I truly love taking un-loved, un-cared for spaces and making them special and beautiful).

I realize that something has to give to achieve those things and so I have adapted to things my younger, less tolerant and creative self would. Within the past few years I:

- rented out an apartment on the back of my house
- got a part time job in the field I want to go into (in addition to the extra cash I wanted experience and networks)
- decided never to hook up cable when I moved. I just have my internet.
- Changed from a $65/ month phone plan to a $30 prepay plan
- Cut my energy bill almost in half by keeping the AC off and using the fans
- paid off a 9 month old car loan in full
- And now that I’ve successfully reno’d the house, I already have renters who will be moving in shortly, and my next step is to either move in with family and continue to add to my “escape fund”, or buy another fixerupper house in order to jump start my real-estate fleet.

I have recently shut off the cable/home phone, saving $1200 a year. I also switched car insurance, SHOP IT PEOPLE! saving me another $1400 a year. I am losing weight and working on being able to walk to work (or bike) and hoping to cut transportation costs as well. We also roughly a year ago turned in one of our financed minivan in exchange for a nicely used SUV. Since the wife is a stay at home mom and the school is in walking distance, we barely use the truck. We’re talking about maybe 5k a year. Take a look around your life… see what you can fix. It all adds up

Congratulations Jennifer … you have a lot of excellent ideas! It sounds like you are in a similar position to where I was about 20 years ago (my story is here http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/04/29/reader-story-escaping-poverty/) and the good news is that there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Like you, I chose to make a challenge of using stuff (consumable and durable) I already had, rather than buying more stuff, and it has become such a way of life that I live in a wonderfully uncluttered world. When something wears out or breaks I wait a while before replacing it, to see if I actually need it at all. Some of my favorite frugal tricks include making giant batches of soup and filling the freezer, riding a bike rather than driving a car, buying fewer (really nice) items of clothing and footwear rather than lots of (so-so) stuff, repairing rather than replacing shoes and boots, and being very conscious of energy use. All the best to you in your endeavours

I made a resolution a few years ago to sew all my own clothes. My mom taught me to sew when I was a child and I sewed a lot as a teenager to stretch my very small allowance, so it seemed pointless not to use that skill as an adult to help my budget. I was already heading in that direction, making most of my clothes and shopping at consignment for the rest. As a result of sewing all my own clothes: my clothes fit me better, I use only the colors I know look good on me instead of the ones that are in season, all my clothes get worn — no more clothes left unworn because of some issue or another. Also, I no longer shop for clothing in stores or online, which is a much bigger time saver than I could have imagined.

This year, I tweaked the resolution to: design and sew all my own clothes. This means no pattern shopping, which can be expensive and time consuming when searching for or trying to tweak a pattern for the “perfect” garment envisioned. I invested in a dress form and a few clothing design books. I learned that creating my own patterns based on my measurements appeals to the math geek in me. That has saved even more time as I no longer have to adjust commercial patterns to my sizes. I’ve designed a few favorite time-saving patterns for myself. I have a skirt and a blouse that each take less than an hour and a half to create (from cutting fabric to wearing). I can have a new garment during my kids’ naptime! I know from experience that an hour and a half spent traveling to and shopping at the mall does not guarantee I’d have a garment with the perfect color and fit for me.

Of course the savings are excellent: I’ve bought boxes of fabric (and found cheap notions) from estate sales for as low as $8/box (enough fabric for at least 20 garments). This means, my self-made clothes can be as low as 50-75 cents, including thread, zippers, buttons, elastic.

Food is my big waste area too. I’ve improved a lot over the last couple of years, but just ten minutes ago found an out-of-date gingerbread at the back of the cupboard, so I’ve still some way to go! But I’m working on it. . . Now, whenever we have leftover veggies from a meal I pop them into a bog freezer bag instead of the bin. Every time we have leftover veggies, in they go to the bag. After a while it’s full,, and then I just defrost, add a can or two of tomatoes, heat for a while and blend for a yummy, nutritious soup that lasts a couple of days.

For the past seven years, I’ve worked at an international non-profit that specializes in Christmas. We start preparations in July and work steadily at it till December 24th. A couple years into it, I was flat-out tired of Christmas on the home front. Purchased no gifts, sent no cards. Spoke with beloved people and let them know they were loved. THAT’S the Spirit. The six-month work holiday is absolutely insane, but the home holidays are ever so much more peaceful now.

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